Energy Storage Technology Marketing Summaries

Researchers at Berkeley Lab have developed a highly efficient technology for the reclamation of waste heat in mechanical heat engines widely used in solar-thermal, geothermal, and industrial processes. This new approach yields gains in efficiencies for both high temperature and intermediate temperature thermal sources, marking a significant advance over strategies that focus predominately on high temperature efficiency solutions.

Sandia has developed a portable, oxygen generation system capable of delivering oxygen gas at purities greater than 98 percent and flow rates significantly greater than commercially available systems.

As plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and battery electric vehicles (BEVs) become more popular, they create additional demand for electricity. Their emergence also raises a host of issues regarding how, where and when car batteries should be charged—and the resulting load on the power grid.

Electric utilities strive to avoid large fluctuations in the power supply and to keep the system’s frequency stable at 60 Hz. In this way, they maintain balance in supply and demand and... read more

Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries have become the battery of choice for everything from cell phones to electric cars, but there is still much room for improvement. Scientists at Argonne National Laboratory are leading efforts to revolutionize battery technology with the design and development of new battery materials for electrolytes, electrodes, and interfaces that will increase the specific energy of advanced batteries, while simultaneously providing enhanced stability at a lower cost. To... read more

Mechanical oscillators are an important component in electronic devices and they represent a multi-billion dollar industry. As electronics become increasingly miniaturized, oscillators must become smaller as well and this makes them more sensitive to environmental variations. Scientists at Argonne National Laboratory have devised a method to solve this problem that allows creating micro and nano mechanical oscillators with excellent frequency stability.

A team of scientists at Argonne National Laboratory has developed a special coating for the cathodes used in lithium batteries. With the coating, batteries charge and discharge more quickly, without a loss in performance.

Argonne National Laboratory has developed a series of inexpensive, electrochemically active phosphate compounds that are highly functional when used in high-power and high-energy lithium batteries.

Fuel cells are an important component in the energy industry, but the high cost of producing the platinum catalyst—an essential part of a fuel cell—has historically kept fuel cells from being commercially viable. Scientists at Argonne National Laboratory have devised a process for creating a “nanosegregated” platinum alloy catalyst with significantly enhanced properties, making it cost-effective and highly attractive for use in fuel cells.

The development of high-power, high-energy, long-life, and low-cost rechargeable batteries is critical for the next-generation electric and hybrid electric vehicles. Among various battery technologies, lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are promising energy storage devices as a result of the high energy densities, low self-discharges, and long cycle lives of known LIBs. Market analysis projects that the LIB market will increase to over $77 billion within the energy storage, electric vehicles, and... read more

To help improve the stability and safety of lithium-ion batteries, Argonne researchers have developed a new intermetallic structure type that can be used for the battery’s negative electrode. Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries have become the battery of choice for everything from cell phones to electric cars, but there is still much room for improvement. Scientists at Argonne National Laboratory are leading efforts to revolutionize battery technology with the design and development of new... read more

Energy storage cells (also referred to herein as "cells" or "batteries") sold for consumer use in portable electronic devices and other applications have occasional failure in the field. These cells have typically passed a wide variety of safety tests, such as those required by governmental shipping regulations and by other certification organizations, but fail after the cells have been in use over time (e.g., several months), even though there have been no other reported problems with the... read more

INL researchers have invented a method to evaluate materials using an impedance method, rather than relying upon nondestructive techniques optical, acoustic, radiographic and electromagnetic techniques.

Battelle has developed materials that can be used to create a supercapacitor with performance superior to that of commercially available devices.  The common measures of performance are the energy density (energy per kg) and power density (power per kg).  This technology is based on specific metal oxide compositions synthesized in conjunction with carbon nanotubes or activated carbon.  The performance of the supercapacitor can be tuned by altering the specific metal oxide... read more

Research on all-solid-state rechargeable lithium batteries has increased considerably in recent years due to raised concerns relating to safety hazards such as solvent leakage and flammability of liquid electrolytes used for commercial lithium-ion batteries. As solid state electrolytes by nature do not carry the safety burdens of liquid electrolytes, an extensive worldwide effort is under way to produce a viable substitute solid electrolyte to replace conventional liquid electrolytes.... read more

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are a promising candidate for energy storage of electric drive vehicles due to their high power and energy density. The total electric vehicle LIB market shipped 2,400 units in 2008 generating over $28 million in revenue and is predicted to be greater than $10 billion by 2015. However, violent incidents reported for LIBs and consequent safety concerns pose a major obstacle to LIB market acceptance. Safety mitigation technologies used in small capacity consumer... read more

Rechargeable metallic sodium batteries have application in large-scale energy storage applications such as electric power generation and distribution, in motive applications such as electric vehicles, hybrids, and plug-in hybrids, and for aerospace applications such as powering satellites. So far, two sodium-based battery technologies have shown particular commercial promise: sodium-sulfur and sodium-nickel chloride, both referred to as sodium-beta batteries.   Sodium-β battery... read more

Research on all-solid-state rechargeable lithium batteries has increased considerably in recent years due to raised concerns relating to safety hazards such as solvent leakage and flammability of liquid electrolytes used for commercial lithium-ion batteries. As solid state electrolytes do not carry the safety burdens of liquid electrolytes and are more effective, an effort is under way to produce a viable substitute solid electrolyte to replace conventional liquid electrolytes. Yet another... read more

Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries are a critical technology for many applications, including consumer electronics and electric vehicles. As the demand for hybrid and electric vehicles continues to grow, so does the demand for lithium-ion batteries that are safer, more powerful, and less expensive. Scientists at Argonne National Laboratory are leading efforts to revolutionize battery technology with the design and development of new battery materials for electrodes, electrolytes, and interfaces... read more

Since the performance of Li-ion batteries is largely predicated on the cathode performance in the cell, improvements to lower the irreversibility capacity loss on the first cycle, increase the rate capability, and improve structural stability at high voltages in the cathode are needed.  The objective is to synthesize and make new materials to address these issues.  High-energy density Li-ion batteries available in the market today have low power and progressively lose their energy due... read more

Nanomaterials that are emerging out of cutting edge nanotechnology research are a key component for an energy revolution. Carbon-based nanomaterials are ushering in the “new carbon age” with carbon nanotubes, nanoporous carbons, and graphene nanosheets that will prove necessary to provide sustainable energy applications that lessen our dependence on fossil fuels.

Carbon aerogels (CAs) are nanoporous carbons that comprise a particularly significant class of carbon nanomaterials for... read more

One of the ongoing challenges to improving performance in capacitors and other high-voltage electrical structures is to identify and reduce the factors that cause failure.  High-voltage devices typically fail following excessive partial discharge activity, which is a localized dielectric breakdown that does not transcend the main electrode gap spacing. One type of failure is anticipated to start at a triple junction, the point at which an electrode and two different dielectric materials... read more

 A team of Berkeley Lab researchers led by Yuegang Zhang and Liwen Ji has taken a major step toward an improved lithium ion battery with the development of anodes coated with vanishingly thin, alternating layers of graphene and silicon. Tests have shown that Berkeley Lab’s graphene-silicon layers create anodes with a much higher charge capacity than those made of graphite. In addition, the multilayer nanostructure of this easy-to-fabricate design resists the rapid degradation that... read more

Although the polyolefin polymer material often used for lithium battery separators costs approximately $1.30/kg, the difficult process used to make it porous, to allow the flow of ions and electrons, raises its cost by two-orders of magnitude, to $120–$240/kg. A Berkeley Lab team led by Nitash Balsara has developed an inexpensive and easily controlled process yielding a nanoporous polymer separator that performs just as well as those made by conventional means.

A Berkeley Lab team led by Nitash Balsara has developed a highly efficient lithium ion battery in which a single inactive material—a polymeric binding agent—serves as a binder that holds active cathode materials together and as a two-lane conductor that simultaneously carries lithium ions and electronic charge.

Researchers at ORNL have developed an integrated system that reduces the total life-cycle cost of used fuel storage while improving overall safety. This multicanister approach provides superior assembly and burnup/damaged fuel capacity. The invention also reduces the need for future repackaging of fuel for transit or storage.

All-optical, fiber-optic-coupled remote radiation sensor using NRL’s luminescent, copper-doped quartz material.  The key to the technology is the doped quartz material that produces a luminescence signal that is directly proportional to the radiation dose. Individual sensors have an estimated cost of $50 and a lifespan of decades. The sensor is less than 7 mm in diameter by 10 cm in length and is fiber-optic-coupled to a photodetec-tor that is remotely located away from the... read more

Argonne National Laboratory has developed a way to make commercially viable lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and electric vehicles that are safer, will last longer, and cost less than current Li-ion batteries. Argonne researchers, Drs. Khalil Amine and Zonghai Chen, accomplished this goal by making only a small change to the Li-ion chemistry. The scientists are testing a new molecule based on boron and fluorine as an additive in the electrolyte of... read more

A capacitor comprising an anode, cathode, and an electrolyte, wherein the anode, the cathode, or both comprise a composite of porous carbon structure with a coating on the surface of MnO2, and a current collector in electrical contact with the composite

Supercapacitors are electrical storage devices that can deliver a huge amount of energy in a short time. Such a surge of energy is important in hybrid electric and fuel cell-powered vehicles, as well as in a wide range of electronic and engineering applications. Since the energy storage capability and the current carrying capability of supercapacitors are proportional to their capacitance, it is important to have as much surface area as possiblein the electrode. A smooth and conformal adlayer... read more

INL has developed a fast quench reactor process to produce diatomic hydrogen and unsaturated hydrocarbons. During the fast quench, the unsaturated hydrocarbons are further decomposed by reheating the reactor gases. More diatomic hydrogen is produced, along with elemental carbon. Other gas may be added at different stages in the process to form a desired end product and prevent back reactions. The product is a substantially clean-burning hydrogen fuel that leaves no greenhouse gas emissions and... read more

INL has developed a method and apparatus for determining an impedance of an energy-output device using a random noise stimulus applied to the energy-output device. A random noise signal is generated and converted to a random noise stimulus as a current source correlated to the random noise signal. A bias-reduced response of the energy-output device to the random noise stimulus is generated by comparing a voltage at the energy-output device terminal to an average voltage signal. The random noise... read more

Portable electronic applications including cell phones, laptop computers, as well as electric vehicles or hybrid electric vehicles require dependable rechargeable batteries.  The lithium ion (Li-ion) battery is the preferred source for portable energy storage due to its desirable energy to weight ratio. The materials used in the development of anodes, cathodes and electrolytes are directly responsible for the performance characteristics of Li-ion batteries.  In order to meet... read more